Living Archive by Ben Cullen Williams

In a world where technology is sleek, neat and, on a good day, obedient, Ben Cullen Williams’ AI performance experiment, challenges us to see the machine as much more than a servant to our needs. Living Archive sees the fusion of tech with design and art, while unveiling the power of artificial intelligence. Williams’ installation ultimately proposes the beginning of a new dialogue between humans and machines.

The use of predictive analytics in the creative world can understandably come with much apprehension – isn’t creativity undermined by automated computer-generated ideas? Williams’ project crushes this concept as he uses artificial intelligence to generate a completely new experience and aesthetic. One which “rips the digital open… to see what lies beneath,” he says.

In collaboration with Google Arts and Culture Lab, Studio Wayne McGregor developed the Living Archive. It’s an artificial intelligence choreographic tool that responds to phrases of movement with multiple suggested possibilities for the next phase. Trained with an extensive collection of old material from the company, the tool is now able to, in real-time, expand the pool of possibility for choreographic decision making. It melds together dancers of the past with those in the present. The machine can predict the most likely sequence of movement which will follow; however, the results are not predictive. Rather than becoming a restrictive body that reduces spontaneity and creative thinking, it acts as an extension of the human brain, amplifying the range of creative opportunities.

We believe computers exist to follow our instructions – coming alive only when we prompt them. However, artificial intelligence thinks for itself, churning out surprises based on the information we ask it to respond to. Williams believes this process can begin to challenge our “conditioned framework of beauty”, altering our perception of what is aesthetically pleasing – a concept which is very interesting when carried into the design world.

Living Archive manipulates abstract visualisations from the artificial intelligence choreography, distilling Williams’ thoughts into a suspended video installation. He explains his video includes elements he usually would omit, included in this piece to achieve “a deeper level of authenticity”. He explains that “if we edit out what we think is strange, we censor the AI, privileging our lens of human values”.

This somewhat strange and experimental new body of work might potentially seem too cutting edge and foreign right now. But with the ever-developing tech world, who knows, artificial intelligence may soon play a much larger role in our everyday lives than we would expect.